I Beg the Question

Tonight Kyle is watching Bull Durham on TV for about the billionth time, so I thought I would pose a question that I thought would garner a quick response, "If you could be in any Kevin Costner movie, which one would it be?" Well, not really the quick response I was expecting. First you must understand that Kyle likes Kevin Costner movies (I think it's a baseball thing). After much thought and me searching IMDB for complete Kevin Costner Filmography, it was determined that Kyle would like to be in a lot of Kevin Costner movies, but his top 5 goes something like this 1. Bull Durham 2. Robin Hood 3. Tin Cup 4. For Love of the Game 5. Open Range. Now, you have to remember, this isn't about which is the best movie, this is about if you were an actor/actress which movie would you want to be in. I need a little more time to think this through, so in the meantime, I'll pose the question to you. If you could be any actor/actress who would you be based on the movies they've been in and which of their movies would you want to star in?

What's Been Happening

Playing

Standing

Crawling

Messing

Bathing

Growing (teeth)

Sucking

Eating

9 Months Old!

Hill had her 9 month check up last week and she was perfect! (but I already knew that)

18 Pounds 12 Ounces - 50th Percentile
28 Inches Long - 75th Percentile

Remember how I said that I couldn't wait 'til Hill could sit up on her own, but not crawl yet? Well, it never happened. Even before Hill could sit, she would either roll or inchworm herself to wherever she wanted to go. Now she is crawling all over the place, but much more interested in standing and pulling up on whatever she can find. We have entered the danger zone. She has such a little personality and talks constantly. Some of her favorite words are "hey", "hey there", and just recently "bye". Bath time is still a favorite activity along with riding in the shopping cart. She loves to play peek a boo and has a new found interest in stuffed animals and baby dolls. She has also learned to respond when we ask her what the snake says, "tttssss" spit and all. She is eating some new foods and cheese seems to be a favorite. As I mentioned before, she is also having a little separation anxiety. She threw up again yesterday at school and broke out in hives at church. Kyle found her tickle spot right under her ribs and her laugh cracks us up. She refuses to sit still and is in constant motion, even when eating her hands and feet move in a circular motion. All of her energy and activity made it very difficult at the Doctors office. Mom put it best when she said, "it's like trying to wrestle a greased pig". So true! Hill wanted to crawl around on the waiting room floor (yuck) and pull all of the paper off the examining table. She even did a full fledged pull up on a cross bar while getting her eyes checked. I was a little surprised, but I thought the nurse was going to faint. By the way, why do they make the exam tables 4 feet off the ground? Defensive tackles have nothing on me. She got blood taken from her toe and a flu shot. The nurses got to experience the joys of a breath holder. She wore me out, but it was a good visit. 9 months old really is so much fun and I can't wait to see what's in store for the next few months!

I'm Having a Pity Party and You're Invited

Sorry I've been gone for so long, but things have been kind of crazy around here. Here's what's been happening:
1. Confession: I hadn't gotten my hair cut since Hill was born. Yes, that was December. Gross, I know. I got about 8 inches cut off and threw in a little highlight action as well. Good thing it made me feel so much better about myself because if ooo's and ahhh's from my friends and husband where what mattered, I would have been really disappointed. Kyle doesn't like it and only a couple of my friends even noticed. Apparently I've had my hair in a ponytail for the past 8 months ;-)
2. I threw Kyle a 30th birthday party. Nothing big or fancy, but fun. My day of running around trying to get everything done for the party could be a post in itself.
3. Hill started Mother's Day out and it hasn't really gone as expected. The first day when I went to pick her up, the Director of the whole school was rocking her. She wouldn't take a bottle or eat her lunch. The second day she cried the whole time and got sent home with a note saying that "it was not a good day" and "Hill played by herself". The third day, I got a phone call from the director saying I needed to come pick her up because Hill had gotten so upset that she had thrown up.
Lovely. So much for my mother's day out. I am in a panic all day, just waiting on them to call me from school.
4. While I'm on the subject of throw up, Hill is now eating 3 full meals a day plus a snack. We have always offered her an 8oz bottle right before bed at night and she normally sucks it down. Well, 2 nights last week, just as we were walking her into her room, projectile vomit. All over her, me, Kyle, the rug, and really anything within a three foot radius. Poor Hill, there is nothing worse than watching your child throw up. As soon as she got it all out she was perfectly fine. Talk about timing though. Back in the tub to begin round two of bedtime (bath, diaper, lotion, new pj's...) and clean up. We've reached the conclusion that we were over feeding her, so now only a 4oz bottle is offered, but I am having major anxiety every time we are walking to put her in the crib.
5. I was so excited to have a baby shower to go to last Sunday and get out of the house for a second. We had a great church service, went to lunch as a family and then came back to our house so I could do a quick touch up of the lipstick and brush my newly cut hair. I ran the brush through my hair, felt a little resistance and just thought I had a few tangles, so I re-brushed and said uh oh. I guess while we were at church, my toothpaste had dripped from the shelf above on to my brush, and my hair was covered. If you know me, you know that a quick rinse of the hair wasn't an option since that would require a blow dry and straighten that I just didn't have time for, and I wasn't missing my hour away from the house. So I did what most people wouldn't have done, went to the shower anyway, a little "something about mary-ish", minty fresh and all. I didn't care. No one seemed to notice, but when I got back home, the toothpaste had totally hardened and turned white. Oh, well.
6. On Friday I took a trip to target to buy a couple of necessities (tampons and sippy cups). Sad purchase, I know, but sometimes I just need to kill some time and Hill loves riding in the cart and flirting with strangers. When I got back home, I was feeding Hill lunch and I thought to myself "I don't remember putting the bag in my car." Uggggh! I called Target, and the conversation (with a man) went a little something like this:
Me: I think I left my bag in the shopping cart inside the store
Target Guy: How many bags?
Me: Just one
Target Guy: Just one? What was in it?
Me: (embarrassed) Tampons and sippy cups
Target Guy: Just bring the receipt and come by to pick it up
Me: The receipt is in the bag
Target Guy: Well, that wasn't very smart
Me: Duh!
Drove the 30 minute round trip (280 traffic) back to Target to claim my Tampons and sippy cups.
7. As a part of working for Bryant Bank, Kyle has tickets every now and then to take some customers to sit in Mr. Bryant's box at the Alabama games. This was one of those weekends and after my week I was looking forward to going. I wasn't able to go last year because I was big huge pregnant. We found out that my parents were going to the game too and Kyle's parents couldn't sit either. Hill has never stayed with a baby sitter other than family and after the whole mother's day out debacle, I wasn't really sure about leaving her with a baby sitter she's never met, for 10 hours while we were an hour away. So, I ended up not being able to go and I was very sad. After a week of spending every second with a 9 month old, I live for the weekends when I have a little help. Then Kyle told me that he'd decided to play golf on Sunday, I cried. His response, jokingly of course, "do you not want to be around Hill?, don't you love her?" My sad quickly turned to mad and let's just say that he didn't play golf.
8. I know that all moms will understand this. Kyle is a huge help! He even tells me that he does more than most dads do. Sometimes I totally agree and sometimes I want to tell him that this isn't the fifties and observing while I play with Hill isn't really helping. If we're trying to get out of the house for something like church, he will watch her while I get ready. That means that he brings her into the bathroom while I am in the shower and let's her play peek a boo with me and let's her crawl at my feet while I'm blow drying my hair because she likes the blow drier. Then I get asked a million questions. What do I need to pack for lunch? what does she need to wear? How much milk do I maker her? What should she play with? Like I said, Kyle is a huge help, but if I am around, I am in charge. There is no light switch to turn the responsibility off.

So in conclusion, I've had a rough week. I love having the opportunity to stay home and watch Hill and there's nothing I would rather do, but I am exhausted! Hill isn't one of those, sit there and look cute kind of baby's. She is feisty, stubborn, wild and very active (cute too). I haven't had a night away from her since she was 6 weeks old (it was a bachelorette party, so not really relaxing). I want to take a shower and not feel rushed, I want to go out to dinner and not hurry to get home, I want to go shopping (by myself), I want to sleep 'til at least 8 on a Saturday. I am in major need of some alone time.
P.S. I have not lost it, I love my child, I love being a mom, I wouldn't trade this time for anything and I know I will be sad when it is all over. I am just venting.

How do I know her?

Does anyone else think that Sarah Palin looks exactly like Tina Fey?

"Aminal Birday Par-t"

We headed to Auburn this weekend to celebrate Ella and Gray's 3rd Birthday. Their farm party has been long in the making and even after having to reschedule because of dumb Hurricane Faye, it turned out great! The twins have been looking forward to this party for months and every time I talk to them, something is mentioned about their "aminal birday par-t". There were so many animals for the kids to look at and the hayride seemed to be a big hit. Personally, my favorite part was watching the trained sheep dog herd the sheep that the "farmer" let out into the pasture. I think I've said it before but Ella and Gray crack me up! They loved the party but I think they would have been perfectly content to just eat (lick the icing off) the adorable animal cupcakes. They had scouted out the ones they wanted long before the party started and as soon as it was lunch time, that pig and chicken didn't stand a chance. I was watching Gray stare down the chicken cupcake and I knew she was thinking something. She looked up at me and said, "I'm gonna eat him". Ashley, great job planning the party, we had so much fun! After a nap time back at the Thames residence, Kyle and I dressed Hill in her Auburn attire and headed over to campus to do a little tailgating. I think Hill enjoyed Auburn on game day just as much as we do. The weather was great and the people watching was even better. Kyle and Allyn headed to the game while Hill and I joined Ashley at a friend's house to watch the game (chase kids and not see a second of the game). I loved getting to meet some of Ashley's friends and the little people I hear so much about from Ella and Gray. It was a great weekend!

In the Meantime...

I'm in the process of making a slide show from our weekend but it is taking forever, so here are some recent pictures of Hill.